1. Field of the Invention
The present invention employs radio frequency (RF) intrusion detection awareness (e.g. evidence of jamming and compromise) and communications gateways as a means to initiate and enable the transition of data from compromised radio channels to available radio channels in legacy or software-defined (programmable) radios. Communications gateways, cued by RF-based intrusion detection systems, can facilitate the transition of data across waveforms, and in doing so; sustain communications connectivity in spite of network outages (whether intended or accidental) occurring on the intended delivery path.
2. Description of the Related Art
Historically, the US military has solicited and procured radio systems designed to meet specific community-of-interest requirements. Generally, this has resulted in radios that perform specialized functions for specific service branches. As a result, service interoperability (across radios) has suffered and communications robustness has been compromised by radios that represent single points of failure. To compensate for these deficiencies the military has solicited requirements for software-defined (programmable) radios. These radios are designed to function more like computers than radios in the sense that waveform handling will be digitized and the waveforms (as well as waveform handling and processing) are software utilities that reside in the radio core (in a manner not dissimilar from utilities in a computers operating system). These new radios are also scalable in that they may represent a base-station, a handheld radio, or anything in between. When configured as a base-station, it will be possible to dynamically reconfigure or reallocate radio channels based on user demand. The limiting factor to radio availability and robustness will no longer be the ‘radio hardware items;’ rather it will be the availability of the transmitter and antenna elements of the new multi-waveform capable software radios.
Looking to the future, one of the envisioned software-defined radios is the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS). The JTRS is envisioned to be a family of affordable, high-capacity tactical radios that will cover an operating spectrum from 2 to 2000 MHz and will be capable of transmitting voice, data and video. By building upon a common architecture, JTRS will be a family of radios that are interoperable, affordable and scaleable. Also, by building on a common open architecture it is thought that the JTRS will improve interoperability by providing the ability to share waveform software between radios, including radios in different physical domains. The JTRS vision is to migrate all legacy systems (typically single band, single mode radios with little or no networking capability) into the JTRS open system architecture. In concept, JTRS is designed to alleviate both the complex solutions necessary to support network integration as well as the interoperability shortfalls associated with employing proprietary baseline systems.
In the move towards software-defined radio such as JTRS (as well as the Navy's Digital Modular Radio and the Army's Near-Term Digital Radio) the DoD seeks to unburden itself from a number of limiting constraints. Among these constraints are complex network management schemes that inhibit support and operations of fixed data rate channels that waste capacity when not needed and lack the ability to provide additional bandwidth when necessary. The DoD, therefore, is not looking to transition the capability and utility of existing network management systems that are so fundamentally important to the daily operation of these legacy radios. The data that these systems provide to operators include (but are certainly not limited to) network performance-to-specifications, throughput calculations, violations of network design, identification of unauthorized participants, excessive Reed-Solomon erasures or other errors (evidence of noise and interference) and equipment failures that, in some cases, contribute to a complete loss of network connectivity.
A commonly owned pending patent application Ser. No. 09/833,634, filed Apr. 13, 2001, and entitled “Methodology for the Detection of Intrusions into Radio Frequency (RF) Based Networks Including Tactical Data Links and the Tactical Internet,” asserts that a solid comprehension of wireless network behavior through effective Quality of Service (QoS) and network management is key to recognizing adversary Radio Electronic Combat activity (comprised of both jamming and compromise events). In pending patent application Ser. No. 09/833,634, which is herein incorporated by reference, it is the association of anomalous events to each other through time and across space-against the background of known “normal” behavior characterized by user and temporal patterns-that forms the basis for identifying adversary jamming and intrusive events.
Accordingly, there is a need to utilize legacy network management capabilities of either existing or proposed systems in an intrusion detection system of the type described in patent application Ser. No. 09/833,634.